Waving Away the Fears
by thefirstservant
Summary: Sitting under the moonlight in the Burrow's backyard, on the day Albus Severus is sent on the Hogwarts Express for the very first time, Arthur Weasley tells his youngest granddaughter a story. First place in the Forgotten Family Competition on HPFC.


A/N: Hello there! :)) This was written, rather hurriedly, for the Forgotten Family Ties Competition on HPFC by Morning Lilies (She's on my list of Favorite Authors.) :)) The participant would be given a pair of (slightly distant) family members and a prompt. The pairing and prompt can be found in the note at the bottom. Enjoy! :)

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><p>Stars are numerous in the sky. Clusters of clouds move together, east or west – wherever the wind goes. Trees belong in forests and wolves travel in packs.<p>

Nature is hardly ever alone. Nature does not want to be alone.

Human nature is the same.

…

Grass crunched beneath his feet as Arthur Weasley walked across his backyard under the bright moonlight. The night breeze was cool and fresh, and the leaves that had begun to fall from the numerous trees in the yard blew around in swirls.

He smiled. Autumn was soon coming.

He moved carefully across the lawn over to the largest tree in the yard. The beech tree's branches hung low and made an excellent shade when one wanted relief from the hot rays of the sun.

The tree's shade was also the place where most of his grandchildren went whenever they were feeling, as his son Ron put it, "down in the dumps."

Particularly one grandchild.

"Is there room for one more here?" Arthur smiled at the small red-headed lump that was huddled against the sturdy tree trunk. "This looks like a lovely place to sit and stargaze, you know."

Lily Luna Potter looked up. Her long red hair was disheveled, and the bright blue eyes that gazed at her grandfather were slightly misty. A closer look would determine the almost invisible tear tracks on the small girl's cheeks.

In spite of all that, however, there was no denying that his youngest grandchild was a beauty. The small smatter of freckles on her face and the wide dimples the young girl often displayed were already determined as "cute" by one of the Scamander twins.

No dimples could be seen today though.

Lily gave a small tiny smile and moved to the side. "There's always room for you, Grandpa."

"I'm glad to hear that," Arthur replied, ducking under the large canopy of leaves. "Especially since I'm bearing presents." He handed his granddaughter a mug of "Grandpa's famous hot chocolate."

"Thank you, Grandpa." Lily Luna's face brightened for a small second as she sipped at the hot chocolate.

Arthur settled down beside his granddaughter, wincing as he did so. Old age had finally come, and at sixty-seven, he was beginning to feel its effects. He watched as his granddaughter silently drank up her hot chocolate, placing the empty mug on the soft grass beside her.

They sat there quietly for a few minutes. The wind whistled around them and a few leaves from the beech tree fell to the ground. A few strains of Celestina Warbeck reached them.

Arthur heard a small sniffle. He glanced at the small girl beside him. Sure enough, Lily Luna had a few small tears running down her cheeks.

He looked away quickly, before his granddaughter spotted his gaze. Although he longed to wrap her up in his arms, experience had shown him that a nine-year old girl with two older brothers did not appreciate other people seeing her tears. Instead, he waited until not a single sniffle could be heard.

A few moments after the sniffling had stopped, Arthur broke the silence.

"It's a full moon tonight, I see." Arthur spoke, looking up at the night sky. "Were you with Teddy today?"

Lily nodded, "Yes, we were. He wanted to say good-bye to Victoire." Her voice cracked a little. She hastily cleared her throat before continuing. "He's at home now though, with Grandma Andromeda."

"How was he feeling today?" Arthur asked. Teddy, although not a werewolf, usually had a bad time on days with a full moon.

A frown creased Lily's forehead. "Not too good. He said that tonight was 'a bad one.' Daddy was saying earlier that it was too bad that the Hogwarts train had to leave on a full moon day. Teddy hates good-byes as it is." She scrubbed a hand over her eyes.

Arthur looked down at his granddaughter. "I see," he said, as he reached out to stroke her granddaughter's hair. "But Teddy's not the only one who hates good-byes, is he now?"

After a short pause, Lily shook her head slowly. "I don't like them either," she admitted in a small voice. "Especially when it means I'll be alone afterward."

"Sweetheart, just because your brothers are going to Hogwarts, doesn't mean that you're alone." Arthur said, as he put an arm around his granddaughter. "After all, there's still Hugo and the Scamander twins."

Lily shook her head emphatically. "Hugo's gone the whole morning at the Muggle school that Aunt Hermione makes him go to. And Lorcan and Lysander are travelling with Aunt Luna again. Besides, I'm still by myself at home." She pouted. "I hate being the youngest."

Arthur gave a chuckle. "That's what your mother told me when Ron left for Hogwarts. She didn't want to be the only one at home either. She even cried at Platform Nine and three-quarters, when the train was leaving, or so our Grandma tells me."

"Mum?" Lily was wide-eyed in surprise. The present Ginny never cried.

Arthur chuckled again. "Yes, your mum, when she was a little girl. But I'll tell you a secret." Arthur leaned down to whisper in the girl's ear. "I wasn't too happy either when the children started going to Hogwarts."

"In fact, let me show you something." He took out his wallet from his pocket, smiling as he did so. He and Harry had had a long talk about Muggle money once, and he had been so fascinated with the concept of wallets that Harry had bought him one. He now carried it with him everywhere.

He opened the wallet and took out a few pictures. "Take a look at these, "he said, handing them over to Lily.

She took them and glanced at them. "Why, these are the pictures on the mantle of the fireplace of your living room."

Arthur nodded. "Yes, these are copies of the ones in the living room." He took the pictures back. "Take a look at this picture." He showed her the first one.

"This picture was taken right before Bill left for Hogwarts. You can see that he's already wearing his uniform. He was so excited to leave that morning." Arthur laughed as he remembered his eldest son's first trip to Hogwarts. "I insisted that we take the picture before we all left for the platform though."

"He does look excited. He looks a bit like Rosie, actually, already in his uniform." Lily smiled, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

"Was Rosie in her uniform earlier? That sounds like something Hermione would do." Arthur laughed. "Now though, take a closer look at the picture. What's your Uncle Charlie doing?"

Lily stared at the picture. "Is he…sulking?" Charlie stood beside Bill, trying to shrug off the arm his older brother had placed around his shoulders, with a deep scowl on his face. He was glaring heavily at the trunk on the floor next to him, the trunk that had the Hogwarts crest on it.

Arthur nodded. "Charlie had a different way of dealing with Bill's leaving. He exploded at Bill a lot the week before Bill left, causing a lot of arguments. He was always the one closest to Bill, see, and he was rather unnerved by the fact that once Bill left, he'd be the eldest and in charge of all the little ones."

"I remember he refused to talk to Bill on the day he left, even while we were on the platform, saying good-bye. Bill was trying to hug him and such, but he kept moving away and staring at the floor. Then, just as the train was about to leave, he jumped at Bill and gave him a huge hug, telling him that he'd miss him."

"That's nice," Lily smiled. "I'm glad they got to say good-bye. I can't imagine watching James and Al leave without telling them good-bye first."

Arthur smiled. "Charlie and Bill were glad, too. And Charlie was right as rain after that."

He looked down at his granddaughter, who was now snuggled deep in his arms. "So, you see, Lily, although saying good-bye to your loved ones is always hard, sometimes good-byes are actually a good thing. At the very least, you were able to say good-bye."

Lily nodded slowly, thinking hard. Then she looked up at her grandfather curiously. "So do _you_ have a hard time saying good-bye, Grandpa?"

Arthur leaned down and laid a kiss on his granddaughter's head. "Of course I do. I'm just thankful that no matter how far my children and grandchildren go, they always come back home, eventually."

He gazed at the crooked house fondly. "Sometimes, I wonder if the man who originally built this house put a spell on it. It's amazing, really. Bill went to Egypt, Charlie to Romania, and all your other uncles and aunts have gone who-knows-where. And yet, every Sunday, almost the whole family gets together to have lunch, chat, and play Quidditch. The Burrow really brings everyone together." He shook his head in wonder.

There was a slight pause. Then, suddenly…

"No." Lily Luna shook her head firmly. "No, I don't think so."

"Hmm?" Arthur asked, almost absent-mindedly, as he watched a Molly-like figure move around in the kitchen.

Lily smiled at her grandfather and shook her head. "Nothing, Grandpa. Thank you very much for cheering me up though," she said, giving him a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You're the best grandfather in the world."

Arthur smiled down at his granddaughter. "Thank you, sweetheart. Now, how about we go inside? I think Grandma has dinner ready already, and I think we have time to play Exploding Snap before your mother comes to pick you up."

And with that, hand in hand, they walked across the lawn and into the Burrow, with Lily chattering all the way.

As Arthur gazed at his youngest granddaughter's bright blue eyes and beautiful dimples, he felt that he must be the luckiest man in all the world.

…

A few days later, Arthur was seated on the living room couch, reading the day's newspaper when the Floo suddenly came to life, and his daughter Ginny Weasley-Potter stepped out, looking slightly hassled.

"Hi, Dad. Is Mum around?" Ginny said, as she stepped over to give her father a kiss. "I need the recipe for her treacle tart again. James managed to ruin my copy of the recipe before he left for Hogwarts." Ginny rolled her eyes. "Typical."

Arthur smiled. "That sounds like my dashing grandson. Your mum's in the kitchen."

"Thanks, Dad. By the way, Lily asked me to give you this." Ginny said, handing her father a large, brown envelope, as she headed over to the kitchen. "She wouldn't tell me what it is, but she's been working on it the past few days."

"Tell her I say thank you." Arthur replied, smiling as he did so. After years of receiving handmade gifts from his young children and grandchildren, Arthur already had three drawers full of cards made of popsicle sticks, colored tissue paper, and the like. Molly had an equal number of drawers.

Sitting back down on the couch, he shook his head, wondering what he was about to add to the colorful collection.

He was more than surprised, however, to see what the package contained.

Instead of the usual messy, child-like projects that he received, Lily's gift was truly beautiful. Lily, who was one of the few people in the family that had any artistic talent, had given her all on this project.

The gift was a large sheet of white paper that had an intricate drawing on it. The drawing was of the whole Weasley family, grandparents, children, son and daughters-in law, and grandchildren. The drawing was perfect with each stroke, and each family member had a symbol next to him or her.

There was a small Quidditch broom next to Fred II, a pair of familiar eyeglasses next to Percy, and an Extendable ear beside George. Teddy, who was an honorary Weasley, had a helmet and shin guards beside him. Arthur laughed. Teddy was notorious for being as clumsy as his mother was.

And in the middle of the picture, between Molly, who had a pair of baking gloves beside her, and Lily, who had put a small waving hand as her own symbol, was Arthur himself.

A small, tiny heart was etched carefully next to his tall, smiling form. It was colored in and carefully drawn in spite of its simplicity.

Arthur turned the paper around. On the back of the firm piece of paper, in Lily Luna's own delicate handwriting, were the words:

Dearest Grandpa,

Thank you for being the heart that brings the family together. Not the Burrow and not anyone else. _**You.**_

We love you, Grandpa.

XOXO,

_Lily Luna_

Arthur blinked the tears away and swallowed down the sudden lump in his throat. Sixty-seven-year old men with seven children did not like to be seen crying as much as nine-year old girls with two older brothers didn't either.

He turned the page to look at the drawing again. The Lily-in-the-picture was holding the Arthur-in-the picture's hand. There was a mug of hot chocolate by their feet.

Arthur let out a laugh and wiped a few stray tears going down the withered cheeks away surreptitiously. "Picture that," he whispered, smiling.

He knew just where to put the drawing.

…

The next Sunday, when Lily Luna Potter stepped out of the living room Floo for Sunday lunch at the Burrow, and turned around to see a large, white, handmade drawing of the whole family sitting on the fireplace mantle, she leaped into her Grandpa Weasley's arms, laughing and crying at the same time, with the rest of the family watching on with smiles of their own.

"I love you," Arthur Weasley whispered into his youngest granddaughter's ear, his voice cracking as he spoke. "I love you very, very much, Lily Luna."

_Picture that, indeed._

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><p>AN: My pairing was, of course, Arthur and Lily while my prompt was picture. I had fun with this competition, as this was in fact the first one I signed up for right after I joined Fanfiction. I also loved the pairing seeing as I'm very close to both my grandfathers. :)

I wrote this fic in a hurry, after many false starts and after neglecting it for a month or so. *blushes* Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. :) Reviews would be greatly, greatly appreciated. Thank you very much. :) See you next time!


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